Surviving in the dark: the mortality effects of reducing rolling blackouts

Joshua Budlender

No wp-2024-44, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: South Africa frequently experiences rolling blackouts ('load shedding') due to shortfalls in electricity generation. This is a common problem across the developing world, and yet the developmental impacts of insufficient and unstable electricity supply, and the benefits of mitigating this, are poorly understood. I use the introduction of a unique load shedding reduction policy in parts of South Africa's second-largest city, Cape Town, to investigate the mortality effects of load shedding and its mitigation.

Keywords: Electricity; Mortality; Synthetic control method; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-ene and nep-reg
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